Library ordered to fix violations

WASHINGTON - The Library of Congress was ordered Monday to fix fire safety violations that threaten treasures that include a Gutenberg Bible, Thomas Jefferson's personal library and 30,000 recordings on cylinders that pre-date phonograph records.

Congress' health and safety agency, the Office of Compliance, issued seven separate citations that ordered correction of fire dangers in book stacks, stairwells, book conveyor systems, electrical switch boxes, rare book areas and the storage space for the audio recordings of the early 1900s.

The citations pointed to "an undue danger to the lives and safety of occupants" of the three Library buildings, especially the domed, 103-year-old Jefferson Building.

The action came less than a month after the compliance office issued an extensive report on the lack of fire protection at the Library and concluded some of "the most valuable and irreplaceable collections" are in the gravest danger.

The Library's collections include an identical copy of the Gutenberg Bible; Jefferson's library; one of the largest accumulations of pre-1500 books; Adolf Hitler's personal library; magician Harry Houdini's files; Alexander Graham Bell's notebook; Jelly Roll Morton's early jazz compositions; and contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets on April 14, 1865, the night he was assassinated (including two pairs of glasses, a lens polisher, a pocket knife, a linen handkerchief, a brown leather wallet with a $5 confederate note, and nine newspaper clippings).

The compliance office previously has issued citations for fire safety violations at the Capitol and its congressional office buildings, prompting the Architect of the Capitol to begin an ambitious program to correct the problems - an effort that won't be completed for years.

Fire safety at the Library is a joint responsibility of the Architect and Library officials.

"The Library is strongly committed to correcting all these deficiencies and already corrected 76 percent of those that are the Library's responsibility," said spokeswoman Jill Brett. "We'll proceed to correcting the remaining 24 percent as quick as possible." She said the Library is responsible for about a quarter of the violations cited in the January report.

Ken Lauziere, the congressional fire marshal who is on the Architect's staff, said the citations are "based on relatively new and in some cases brand new applications of fire codes - as recently as 1997." He said the buildings were constructed with the fire protection measures of their time, and it will "take some major effort" to apply "contemporary solutions to our historic problems."

He said the Architect would seek design funds in fiscal 2003 and construction money in fiscal 2005.

In addition to the Jefferson building with its ornate Main Reading Room, the Library also consists of the 62-year-old Adams Building and the 20-year-old Madison Building.

One of the collections in the greatest danger is the 30,000 recordings made at the turn of the 20th Century on cylinders coated with a chemical, cellulose nitrate. The chemical also is on microfilm and movie film, with only the movie film stored under safe conditions, the compliance office said.

"Cellulose nitrate is easily ignited, burns with intense heat, and emits gases that are poisonous and flammable," one of the citations said.

Storage of the recording cylinders in a basement of the Jefferson Building "is particularly dangerous because smoke and toxic fumes from fires that start in a basement can quickly progress up through the building," the citation said. The compliance office ordered the recordings moved to a different location.

The Library also was ordered to search its hundreds of thousands of microfilm rolls for the chemical - used before 1950 - and to store the film under safe conditions.